As a Southerner, I have more than a passing familiarity with kudzu, the ubiquitous vine transplanted to the American South in an effort to combat erosion. Like most other such efforts, it backfired — in the lush heat and humidity of Mississippi, kudzu’s growth can be measured in feet per day. It’s been called “a vegetable form of cancer,” among other things, as it overwhelms surrounding vegetation and cloaks buildings and cars in a green net of vines.

Of course, now it turns out that you can eat it. And by “you,” I mean people other than me.